The Forbidden Trilogy(145)

Muscles burned, eyes grew heavy, but still they pushed.

When Lucy felt the solidness of earth under her feet, she nearly passed out in relief, but they could still drown in this water. "We're almost there. You can walk now."

Luke stumbled and she caught him and helped him to shore. They collapsed on the wet sand, too tired to find shelter or food.

Too tired to do anything but pass out.

***

Crystal blue waters lapped against the pale sand. To Lucy's left, a rocky cliff jutted into the water and a water fall fell from it, filling the quiet morning with the sound of water splashing. Inland, a forest, or maybe jungle was a better word, blocked her view of anything beyond, filling her vision with trees that created a canopy over the land. To both sides of her, the watery edge curved around, making her think they were probably on one of the smaller islands in Hawaii. Though she'd traveled the world many times for assignments, she'd never been to Hawaii. This wasn't exactly how she'd envisioned her dream vacation.

Luke groaned and sat up, joining Lucy in her survey of their surroundings. "Morning, Sis. You survive okay?"

She stretched out her body and mentally scanned all important parts to make sure she hadn't sustained any serious injury. Everything hurt, but nothing felt injured. "Yeah. Sore, tired and thirsty, but I'll live. What about you?"

He'd had it worse, and Lucy worried about the dark circles under his eyes and how pale his face had gotten. Even his bright blue eyes had lost some of their spark, and now looked washed out and tired.

"I'll be fine. But yeah, I'm thirsty as hell."

Nothing like swimming through salt water and running for your life to dehydrate you. The more Lucy thought about water, the more she craved it. How long could someone survive without water? Her survival teacher had said they could live without water for maybe three days, under optimal circumstances. She considered the state of her body and the level of dehydration she already suffered from.

Yeah, no. I won't make it three days. And by the looks of Luke, he had even less time.

No matter, as she didn't intend to be stranded that long, and they could surely find some fresh water somewhere.

She rose to her feet, grunting under the pain of exhausted muscles, and pulled Luke up. "Time to hunt for water."

The walk gave them both a chance to explore the island and stretch their bruised and tired bodies. Lucy led them towards the waterfall she'd seen, in hopes that it was fresh water and not salt. "It looks pretty close, maybe a ten- or fifteen-minute hike?" Her wetsuit clung to her in uncomfortable ways, but she was loathe to change into clean clothes until she could rinse the salt and sand from her body.

An hour into the walk, she began regretting her choice to hike in the wetsuit.

Another half hour and they finally arrived at a small lake fed from a waterfall above, and the lake in turn fed the waterfall she had seen from shore. For a moment, she forgot about her thirst and admired the beauty of her surroundings. The water caught the sun and shimmered like liquid crystal. The rocky shore of the lake had a colorful assortment of rocks that, when wet, shone like gems.

They approached and looked into the lake, at their own reflections.

Lucy wasn't vain, but even so, she shuddered at the mess that looked back at her. Her long hair had turned into a nest of tangles that any bird would be happy to lay eggs in, which might not be so bad; at least they'd get some food out of it.

Luke nudged her. "Just ten or fifteen minutes, huh?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, then realized how dry and thick it felt. Her thirst crashed into her and she plunged her hand in the cool water and drank greedily.

Once they both had their fill, Lucy told Luke to turn his head while she peeled off her wetsuit and plunged naked into the water to rinse off the sweat, dirt and salt. She would have given a kidney for a bar of soap and some shampoo, but she sucked it up and did her best, then got out and sun dried in a private spot behind a rock while Luke took his turn in the water.

Her pack included khaki cargo pants, an IPI t-shirt, and a sweater. She slipped into the clean clothes and dug through her pack to find her cell phone and walkie-talkie.

Luke, who'd already rinsed and dressed, frowned at her. "Who are you going to call? Everyone's dead."

Lucy refused to think about that, focusing instead on the mission. "Not everyone. Someone in HQ must know where we are or what to do. Someone must be monitoring the lines."

She tried the walkie-talkie first, but only heard static. None of the channels worked. Next she tried her iPhone, but it didn't get a signal. She flipped through the pages of her apps, as if Apple made an app for "Escape from a deserted island." With a deep sigh and shoulders slumped, she turned the phone off to preserve batteries, and stuck both useless pieces of technology back in her pack.